


When We're Wasted

by ActualEmoTrash



Series: Nursey/Dex Ficlets [18]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Drug Use, Hooking up, Implied Consent, M/M, Minor breakdown, No Strings Attached, Underage Drinking, they're idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 23:39:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12758610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActualEmoTrash/pseuds/ActualEmoTrash
Summary: Nursey and Dex have a no-strings-attached hook up deal after kegsters. How could that possibly go wrong?





	When We're Wasted

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Tiesto's "Wasted"

At the beginning of sophomore year Dex and Nursey were getting along pretty well, at least in between fights. The problem was that their fights kept getting worse. They didn’t mean to hurt each other, they were just more hot-headed than they liked to admit. It seemed that the more time they spent together, the more intense their fights got. They got into a couple of fistfights before Ransom and Holster decided to step in. Sure they could play well together on ice, but if they’re fights got any worse, they might not make it to the ice.

Ransom and Holster decided to try assigning Dex to Nursey patrol. They knew Dex was too responsible to leave a drunk Nursey alone, so he would be forced to deal with him. Dex was just starting to kind of get along with sober Nursey, he didn't want to deal with crazy, clingy, drunk Nursey. He tried to get out of it, but Ransom and Holster are his captains, and stubborn captains at that, so he was stuck.

The day before the party Dex and Nursey completely ignored each other. Nursey didn’t know what to say and Dex didn’t want to say anything. So when the party started Nursey was a little surprised to find Dex by his side. It was a good kind of surprise, with Dex there he was free to get wasted, and it didn't take much for Nursey to get wasted. He smiled at Dex and disappeared to get a cup of tub juice.

The only problem with Nursey’s plan was that Dex wasn't staying sober. Dex figured if he got a nice buzz going he wouldn’t care as much about being stuck on Nursey Patrol. It seemed like a good idea at first, he had a pretty decent alcohol tolerance, and he was more easy-going after a drink or too. He didn't plan to get more than a mild buzz, but he had greatly underestimated how hard the tub juice would hit him. His plan started to go downhill after the second cup. In no time he had finished two cups of tub juice, four shots, and a can of beer. Any real sense of responsibility had left him after he finished the third cup of tub juice and after the shots his vision was definitely starting to blur. By the time he was halfway through the beer he was barely stressed out about Nursey, he had basically forgotten he was supposed to be keeping track of him. Dex took a second to steady himself, grabbed a second beer, and went off to find Nursey. By the time he found Nursey sitting on the front lawn of the Haus with Chowder, Dex had finished the can.

“Hey Chowder.” Dex called making sure he didn't fall down the steps.

“Hey Dex.” Chowder called back excitedly from where he was lying on the lawn.

“I’ll take Nursey back to his room." He said, working extra hard to say every syllable correctly "Thanks for watching him.”

“ ‘s no prob. Caitlin had to study so I’m here alone anyways.” Chowder was obviously buzzed, he stumbled a bit getting up and started laughing. Dex wanted to kiss him on the cheek, he was always more affectionate drunk. Luckily he still had some self control, he ran his hand through his hair and smiled as Chowder walked back into the Haus.

“Dexy” Nursey said happily as Dex bent down to help him up. Nursey took a whiff of Dex's breath and made a face. “Have you been drinkin’?”

“Just a lil" Dex lied as Nursey wrapped an arm around his shoulder and leaned into him. "I'm st-still sober enough to get you to your dorm."

“But Dexxyyy, not suppoossed to drink on Me Patrol” Nursey slurred into Dex’s ear as they started to walk.

“Well if you didn’ drink there wouldn’ be a You Patrol.”

“Shoulda woulda coulda Dexy” Nursey laughed and leaned further into Dex’s side.

It took them longer than it should've to get back to dorms, but they were both struggling to stay upright. Nursey kept tripping over his own feet, but Dex managed to keep them upright.

It took Dex 3 tries to get the door open, he was really starting to feel the alcohol hitting him. Everything looked like it was swaying from side to side. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Seeeee Dexy, you‘re drunk toooo.” Nursey teased as he collapsed onto his bed.

“Shut up.” Dex growled far too wasted to come with a better comeback. In the back of his head he knew Nursey was right.

“Make me.” Nursey cocked his head to the side and winked at Dex.

Dex knew if he was sober he would have been able to just curse Nursey out and move on, but he wasn’t and Nursey was challenging him. Dex pushed Nursey back and climbed onto his lap.

***

When they woke up they barely talked about it. Sure many people would probably freak out after finding themselves naked in their teammates bed, but they handled it surprisingly well. They talked it through a bit, touched a consent, and moved on. They figured it was better than fighting, it was no strings attached and no big deal.

It became a regular thing, them getting wasted and hooking up. The team either didn’t know or didn’t care, they were getting along much better so it was a win for everyone.

It didn’t become a real problem for either of them until Winter Screw. Holster and Ransom were determined to find them dates even though they both kept refusing. They weren’t going out with each other, it hadn’t really occurred to them to actually date, they just figured they would end up getting drunk and hooking up with each other. It was their routine.

When Nursey woke up that morning after Winter Screw he wanted to throw up. Him and Dex were basically exclusive and he wouldn’t admit it, but he liked it that way. He had been ecstatic when Dex didn't show up to Screw with a date and his heart fell when Ransom came by, not even 10 minutes later, with a girl for Dex to dance with. He didn’t want to be jealous of the girl, but he couldn't help it, he wanted Dex all to himself.

Nursey decided the best way to deal would his emotions would be to not deal with them. He did his homework, went to class, and smoked a lot of pot. When he was high he didn’t think about how he was going to screw up what he had with Dex. He could relax and be ‘chill’.

It wasn’t a problem for Nursey, he had spent most of his senior year stoned, but Dex was starting to get worried. Nursey was even clumsier high than when he was sober. The higher he was the more likely he was to get hurt. Nursey was his friend and teammate. obviously Dex cared.

The more Dex thought about it, the more he found that he didn’t like calling Nursey his friend. Bitty was his friend, Nursey was- well, Nursey was more than his friend. He tried not to think about it. It was bad enough that he was hooking up with Nursey, he didn't need it to get more complicated.

They didn't try to do more than hook up, that would mean they had to admit to each other that it was no longer no-strings-attached. Neither of them was ready to that.

Christmas Vacation passed seemingly without incident. They had actually become good friends, not best friends, but definitely close friends. They talked and texted enough to lessen the amount they missed each other, but they could both feel the loss. Dex kept himself busy in Maine and Nursey kept himself high in Manhattan. They managed.

When they got back to campus they both tried to stay casual, but they both knew something was off. Nursey was high whenever he had the chance and Dex was more withdrawn than usual. The kegster was a relief to the both of them. They didn’t need to talk if they could hook-up.

It wasn’t long into the party before Dex was on his way to being wasted. He chugged a cup of tub juice and did shots with some guy on the soccer team until he lost count. The soccer guy reached his limit and stumbled away to find his friends. Dex thought that seemed like a good idea and went looking for Nursey. He made it a few steps into the living room before everything was spinning. He stumbled out of the Haus and decided to wait on the lawn until Nursey found him. For the first time since they started hooking up Nursey was the one leading them back to his room. He was far from sober, but he was definitely not as wasted as Dex. As soon as the door closed, they were on each other. It had become second nature to them. They were both panting and down to their boxers before either of them said a word.

“I missed you” Nursey said against Dex’s chest, running his finger over a forming hickey.

“I missed you too, so much” Dex replied immediately, the alcohol bringing the truth out of him.

“I felt weird without this, without you” Nursey ran his hands down Dex's chest as Dex hummed in reply. Dex leaned down to kiss Nursey's neck and started to laugh a bit. Nursey looked up at him in confusion. Dex just smiled and dug his fingers into Nursey’s hair.

“I attached the strings” He laughed out nonchalantly before kissing Nursey's neck.  

Nursey used his hold on Dex’s hips to push him back a bit and look at him, his confusion sobering him a bit. “What?”

“We were 'posed to keep it no strings attached, but I attached 'em.” Dex laughed as he tried to pull Nursey back towards him.

“You need to sleep.” Nursey replied seriously, not quite sure if this was really happening or if the tub juice was messing with him.

Dex put up a bit of an argument, but within a few minutes they were both curled up on small dorm bed. Nursey wrapped his arms around Dex and tired not to think about how this is the first time they were falling asleep together without being naked. He kissed Dex's forehead and drifted off.

 

Nursey uncharacteristically woke up before Dex. Although his head was pounding from the previous night, he found it nice to be up before Dex, he barely got to see Dex this at peace. He could have stayed there for hours just watching shadows dance across Dex's face and his chest fall and rise if it wasn’t for his headache. He knew Dex was going to wake up feeling even worse than he did, so he quietly snuck out of bed to grab some aspirin and a bottle of water.

He left it on his bedside table and grabbed some clothes to go take a shower. He lingered in the doorway for a second, part of him wanting to spend as long as possible staring at the soft features of Dex's face, but his hangover was calling for a shower.

He stood under the shower for a while just letting the water hit him. He could remember most of last night, though it was all a little fuzzy. Dex was usually pretty responsible when it came to drinking (or at least as responsible you can get when you're drinking underage at a college party), but last night he had been wasted. Nursey definitely had to talk to him.

When he got back to his room the aspirin and water had disappeared from his bedside table, but Dex was still curled up on his bed. He had pulled the blanket over his head and curled up into a ball. Nursey was just relieved he hadn't left.

“Dex?” Nursey said quietly as he walked over to an unoccupied corner of his bed. Dex groaned in response but didn’t move. Nursey sighed, talking to Dex about something serious right now would be stupid.

“Are you hungry?" asked quietly. "I could go get you something to eat, if you want?”

Dex peeked his head out from under the blanket and winced at the light. “My head hurts.”

Nursey tired not laugh, it didn't seem nice to laugh at your friends pain even if Dex was being absolutely adorable. “I know Dex, you got wasted last night, this is what happens” he said softly.

“But it reeeaaallly hurts,” Dex whined. Nursey had to stop himself from reaching out and stroking Dex’s hair.

“I’ll go get you food.”

Being well versed in curing hangovers Nursey knew exactly what to get. He walked as fast as he could to murder stop and shop and bought 2 bottles of coconut water, a few bananas, and 4 hard boiled eggs. It was a bit of a weird assortment but it always seemed to work for Nursey's hangovers.

When he got back to his room Dex had dozed off. Nursey pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a baggy shirt from his closest and left it at foot of his bed. He placed half the food atop the sweats before walking over to his desk to write. He’d never seen Dex this hungover before, he didn’t know what to expect. He was honestly a little scared. It took quite a bit of alcohol before Dex was drunk, Nursey couldn't imagine how much he had to drink to get wasted.

Nursey heard Dex yawn and stopped writing to go check on him. He sat at the edge of the bed and waited for Dex to get up.

"Nursey?" Dex questioned opening his eyes.

“Hey Dexy" Nursey said softy "feeling any better?”

“A little. Why am I still in your bed?” Dex yawned again and sat up.

“How bout you put on some clothes and eat a bit before we get into that” Nursey rubbed the back of his neck and gave Dex a small smile.

“Is that supposed to be sexual?” Dex asked looking over at the food.

“No, why would it be..... oh.. sorry, they’re just good for hangovers.”

“Sureeeee.” Dex swung his legs to the side of the bed and stood up, wobbling a little. “So.. Are you just going to watch me change?”

Nursey quickly turned around, glad his skin didn't blush the way Dex's did. He leaned against the headboard and got back to writing, determined to keep his chill. He could feel the bed dip when Dex sat back down, but he forced himself to just keep writing.

“Eat” He said, trying to focus on his writing. Dex didn’t reply but Nursey could hear him opening the coconut water and taking a swig.

“Will this actually help?”

“Yes.” Nursey didn’t want to come off as harsh, but he was trying to keep all of his emotions down to a simmer.

They sat in relative silence for a bit Dex enjoying Nursey’s ‘hangover cure breakfast’ and Nursey focusing on his writing. If last night hadn’t happened things would feel almost normal.

“I want to apologize for last night, but I don’t know what I did” Dex said quietly breaking the silence.

“Then why apologize?” Nursey asked. He tightened his grip on his pen, but didn't look away from him writing. Dex sighed and Nursey turned just enough to see him pulling at the ends of his hair.

“I just- I know- I know I did something. Our mornings- they just” Dex said stumbling over his words “They aren’t this.”

“You’re not wrong” Nursey replied partially under his breath.

“Then why don’t you put down the damn writing and tell me what I did. I can’t fix it until you tell me how I fucked up.” Dex yelled, wincing at the volume of his own voice.

“You said and I quote ‘I attached the strings’” Nursey said, finally putting his writing down.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry” Dex said quietly looking down at his hands. It was a drastic change from the yelling.

“Wait... you’re sorry.. What are you sorry for?” Nursey asked, furrowing his brows.

“I fucked up.. I just... I fucked it all up.” Dex was talking more to himself than to Nursey. He took a deep breath and rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes. “I’m sorry”

Nursey moved next to Dex, trying not to intrude too much on his personal space.

“Dex?” Nursey said quietly as he lightly wrapped his hands around Dex’s wrist and pulled them away from his face. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“It doesn’t matter. I fucked it all up. I fucked everything up.” Dex tried to bring his hands back to his eyes, but Nursey stopped him.

“Please don’t.”

Dex took a deep breath and let his hands fall onto the bed. “I’m sorry”

“You don’t have to be” Nursey said softly. “Can I..?” Nursey asked opening his arms for a hug. Dex nodded and collapsed into Nursey’s arms crying into his shoulder. Dex wasn’t the type to cry so Nursey knew the whole situation had to be more serious than he had thought.

Instead of asking questions, he just ran his hand up and down Dex’s back telling him how it was going to be okay. If Dex needed support and comfort, then Nursey was going to give it to him.

 

After a while Dex was all cried out but he didn't make any attempt to move out of Nursey's arms. Nursey just kept running his hand up and down Dex’s back.

Dex started to shake and Nursey though he had started crying again, but then he heard the laughing. Nursey pulled away to look at him. He couldn’t help but be concerned, Dex had bright red, tear stained cheeks, yet he was laughing.

“Dex....” Nursey said moving his hands to Dex's face to get a better look at him.

"Sorry, I know, it’s a bad coping mechanism. It's just sometimes when I'm overwhelmed I start laughing. Sorry I’ve been such a mess lately. It’s... it's just been a long few weeks.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s nothing really, I’m fine, I’m just really sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to screw up our hooking up or our friendship, I should have been more responsible, I just....”

“Why would you have screwed up our friendship???”

“Because I’m into you... in a more than friends-with-benefits sort of way...”

“Oh yeah.... that.” Nursey sat up and anxiously rubbed the back of his neck. He took a deep breath not quite sure if he should continue. “It's... I’ve actually been into you for a while. I was just was afraid that.... I didn’t want to hurt our friendship, but if you're into me....”

Dex sat in a shock for a second before moving to hit Nursey's shoulder. Nursey was too shocked to react.  

“So you feel the same DAMN way and you let me have that mental BREAKDOWN ANYWAY?!?!”

“I DIDN’T KNOW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. I’m sorry” Nursey said honestly.

“It’s not your fault." Dex dropped his head into his hands and sighed "I told my mom how there was a boy on campus that I really liked during break, and.. she didn’t exactly handle it well. I was scared enough that I liked you and then I got that reaction. It was starting to really get to me.”

“If you need to cry anymore I’m here.”

“I know but-”

“No buts, just let me comfort you, you don’t always have to be so tough.”

“Okay” Dex softly. Nursey opened his arms and Dex fell into them, curling up against Nursey’s chest.

“I always have your back.” Nursey said tightening his arms around Dex's shoulders.

“Thanks.” Dex mumbled against Nursey’s collar bone. “It.. it means a lot to me... that you care.”

Nursey kissed the top of Dex’s head. “Of course and when you’re feeling up for it I’m gonna take you out for some real food.”

Dex just cuddled closer to Nursey’s chest and smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> A Short (Unrelated to this fic) Rant  
> I just finished rereading Check! Please (because it’s glorious) but, whenever I get to ‘Meet the Frogs’ (http://checkpleasecomic.com/comic/02-03-01) I get a little annoyed. Not annoyed at Ngozi because I think it’s a great update but annoyed at the fandom because while some people acknowledge that Dex is unaware of white privilege I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about how Nursey is ignorant to classicism.   
> While Dex doesn’t get that he is privileged for being white, which is 1000% a problem, don’t get me wrong, Nursey doesn’t seem to get how privileged he is to be rich. Even in ‘Dib Flip’ (http://checkpleasecomic.com/comic/03-17-01) Nursey says how Dex isn’t the only one who has to pay room and board (which he isn’t) but finding money for room and board as someone who is working class vs someone who is upper class is such a big difference.   
> This has just been bothering me more as I’ve had to watch my working class friends work multiple jobs, transfer to community colleges, or consider dropping out because they simply don’t have the money for college.  
> Not trying to villainize Nursey or ignore Dex’s ignorance/problems. Just trying to point out how Ngozi gave us the perfect chance to talk about intersectionality and I don’t think enough of us are taking it.


End file.
